Brethren children 'abused'

FORMER Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson has accused
the Exclusive Brethren church of brainwashing and abusing children
by denying them access to their non-Brethren parents.

Mr Nicholson also accused it of failing to comply with court
orders, of stacking Family Court rooms with supporters to
intimidate opponents, of using their almost unlimited legal funds
to "conduct appeals no matter how hopeless", and of "unacceptable"
comments about being above the law.

A Brethren spokesman rejected all the comments, saying church
members sought to "uphold the law at all times".

The Exclusive Brethren, which has contributed millions of
dollars to conservative political campaigns, including the
re-election of Prime Minister John Howard in 2004, practices a
policy of separation from the world, which includes keeping
children from parents who are out of the fellowship.

Non-Brethren parents have for decades fought bruising Family
Court battles to try to get access to their children.

Mr Nicholson, who retired in 2004 after 16 years as head of the
Family Court, revealed last year that he had been visited by two
delegations of Exclusive Brethren elders trying to persuade him to
help them keep families apart.

Brethren children often tell their non-Brethren parent as part
of custody disputes that they are evil and that they do not want to
spend time with them.

"You'd have to be highly suspicious that, if not coached, that
the children had in effect been brainwashed into believing that
they shouldn't see the other parent," he said in an interview with
the ABC's Four Corners, which did not go to air. "To treat
children in that way is abusive of them, and it's psychologically
very damaging to the child. It's in effect telling the child that
their parent is worthless and that really is quite
unacceptable."

Mr Nicholson said church members were "reluctant to comply with
court orders", which "had to be enforced with vigour".

A church spokesman rejected the comments, saying the Brethren
encouraged members to abide by custody rulings. There were
"numerous cases where joint custody arrangements are working
smoothly".

In 2003, world leader Bruce D. Hales told a Brethren gathering
that "I can't exactly expect to get mercy in the judicial system"
and the Brethren church was "the highest court" that had "the power
to overrule other judgements".

Mr Nicholson said it was "obviously not acceptable in a
democratic society for people to treat themselves as above the
law", although it was not an uncommon view among strictly religious
people.

The Brethren said Mr Hales' comment was a "theological reference
that moral and spiritual matters are dealt with by the
church, despite these issues not always being considered in a court
of law".

Labor spokesman Anthony Albanese wants the Howard Government to
"disclose all of the financial and other support they have received
from the Exclusive Brethren" for November's election.